MacKenzie Boeing Smith
Muhammad Ali once said, “Your hands can’t hit what your eyes can’t see, float like a butterfly and sting like a bee”. This is one of my favorite quotes as Muhammad Ali was one of my favorite athletes, he was an underdog and given no shot before he became the heavyweight champion of the world, but he kept his eyes on the championship belt and drew motivation from all who doubted him. I believe I possess some of these same qualities in terms of motivation because of my hearing disability, my Mexican heritage, and where I was raised. Unfortunately, I am not interested in become the world heavyweight boxing champion of the world, but I find my calling in the world of applied mathematics. Chills form all over my body when I solve a difficult physics problem correctly, I lose track of time when I am doing complex integrations just because of how fun the most challenging problems are, and I find myself jumping for joy after getting publishable results after 10 weeks of hard physical chemistry research. My name is Mackenzie Boeing Jorgensen Smith, and I study mathematics and related subjects for fun!
Dr. Alan Stickney had a huge influence on my life because of all I learned and applied from his Math 201 and 202 calculus courses. He changed the way I look at the world I see derivatives and integrals everywhere I look on a daily basis just from a common occurrence like a bird flying away. He taught me so much about the theory of calculus, the fundamentals, and applications to the real world. There were two tests that he had warned his classes about in both classes, the test over chapter four in differential calculus and the test over chapter eight in integral calculus. Both tests were about applying the fundamentals we had learned prior in the course to real world situations. The class medians on these two tests were both in the 50’s; however, I thought they were the easiest ones of the semester as I pulled a 99 and 103 respectively. He asked me afterwards, “Why do you always ace the hard tests?” I simply replied, “I love applied mathematics and mixing pictures with problems, it gives me more insight on the problem.”
The second semester of my freshman year at Wittenberg I also ran into someone who was supposedly one of the most difficult teachers at Wittenberg, Dr. Ian Hoffman. His introductory physics courses were said to be nearly impossible and most people would be happy to get above a sixty percent on his tests. I decided to take Physics 200 knowing I probably would get my first B in a class. I had never taken Physics in high school, had absolutely no physics background, and I knew I would need it for whatever field I wanted to pursue. I couldn’t have been more wrong, most people in the class thought it was extremely difficult, but I just saw everything as picture math which in my case is easier than regular math like picture books are easier to read than regular books. His tests did not turn out to be that difficult for me either, his questions were always very similar to the homework with a twist. He forced his students to think outside the box and find unconventional ways to solve difficult problems. By the end of the semester I started looking forward to Physics exams to see what he would come up with next and if I could draw on what I knew in creative ways to solve difficult problems.
I wish I would’ve realized my aptitude for physics earlier unfortunately not much was offered from my high school. I grew up in southeast Ohio in a little town called Gallipolis, just off the on the river across from West Virginia. There aren’t many opportunities there academically, but my high school was the best public school in the area and was more humanities focused. I really felt out of place in most of my classes besides math and science courses. Also, I was diagnosed with microtia of the left ear when I was born (I am nearly deaf in my right ear) and unfortunately a reading disability arose from it. This made learning and performing in a mainly humanities high school extremely difficult. I decided my freshman year of high school that I needed to have a class rank as high as possible in order to get into college because my ACT score would be quite low due to what at the time was an undocumented disability. I ended up succeeding in earning a high class rank and graduated valedictorian of my class of 176 students as a hearing impaired Hispanic. Our guidance counselor actually called me into her office two weeks before graduation and told me, “Boeing, do you realize you will be the only valedictorian ever from this school to not graduate with an Honor’s Diploma because your ACT score is to low?” I simply replied, “Why thank you, hard work trumps talent Mrs. Vaughn.” Needless to say I have a chip on my shoulder from people who always count me out, this on display all throughout my high school athletic career as well.
My freshman year of high school I tried out for the varsity golf team at Gallia Academy High School and barely snatched the last varsity spot averaging a 53.5 for nine holes (Averaged 35 over par for 18 holes). By the time I was a senior I was co-captain of the team and averaged 37.0 for 9 holes (2 over par for 18 holes) and earned All-Ohio honors (Top ten individual players in the state). Our team was pretty good that year and helped lead us to a historic season of 92 wins with a mere 3 losses, we tripled the previous win streak record for any sport at 75-0, and to this day we are considered the best male team for any sport at Gallia Academy High school. Nobody expected a few farm boys from Appalachia to be one of the top three teams in the state of Ohio. That’s mainly where my motivation derives; listening and seeing someone count me out because of my disability, where I was raised, or my Hispanic heritage. The look on their faces when I prove them completely and totally wrong is priceless to me.
A degree from Wittenberg helps me do this as well because it says someone who got a 15 on their reading ACT can graduate with a great GPA from one of the most prestigious liberal arts institutions in the country. Furthermore; Wittenberg is preparing me for what I will face in the real world with all of the face to face contact and discussion that I am having with my professors, all the hands on training in a small lab setting, and all the research and internship opportunities helping me network and build connections for the job market. I actually was able to do some research this summer with Dr. Dudek in the field of physical chemistry. We were able to successfully enhance the Raman signal of Copper Chlorophyllin by adhering them to silver colloids and varying conditions like salt concentration, pH, polymer presence, and the type of reducing agent to maximize the signal.
I absolutely loved doing hands on lab and computational research this summer and can see myself doing something similar for the rest of my life. I love the chills and sense of accomplishment I get when I have to draw on everything I have learned to solve an unknown problem like I had to this summer and in Dr. Hoffman’s class. I really want to pursue a double major either in physics, chemistry, and or computer science because of my love for applied mathematics. I belief I can also keep my motivation up because of the thrill it gives me, my love for these three disciplines, and chip on my shoulder that is getting bigger and bigger due to all the people that have and will continue to count me out.
Committed to academic excellence, Wittenberg University regularly recognizes students who maintain high educational standards. The following students maintained a 3.5 or higher grade point average ...
July, 18 2016 - Wittenberg UniversityCapping off a day-long Celebration of the Liberal Arts at Wittenberg University, the campus community came together to celebrate and recognizes MacKenzie Boeing Smith from Gallipolis, OH for the ac...
May, 19 2016 - Wittenberg UniversityCommitted to academic excellence, Wittenberg University regularly recognizes students who maintain high educational standards. The following students maintained a 3.5 or higher grade point average ...
February, 10 2016 - Wittenberg UniversityMacKenzie Boeing Smith, class of 2016 from Gallipolis, OH, was named to the Dean's List for the spring 2014 semester at Wittenberg University. To qualify, MacKenzie Boeing maintained a 3.5 grade p...
July, 17 2014 - Wittenberg UniversityMacKenzie Boeing Smith, class of 2016 from Gallipolis, OH, was named to the Dean's List for the fall 2013 semester at Wittenberg University. To qualify, MacKenzie Boeing maintained a 3.5 grade poi...
February, 04 2014 - Wittenberg University